To Be A Freelancer
by galaxyarts
Summary: What if Church/Alpha was sent into training after all the fragments were made, then put into training and recruited as a freelancer into the Project? How would that change the Freelancers?
1. Chapter 1

**To Be A Freelancer- Ch. 1**

 **I do not own Red vs Blue, nor any of the characters used in it.**

 **Summary: What if Church/Alpha was sent to training, then recruited into the Freelancer program so the Director could keep an eye on him? How would that change the plot of the Freelancer arc?**

 **Like if you want more!**

 **-PA**

"Hey Wash. Wait up." North called out. He caught up to Washington, who paused for him. "Listen, I heard you had a meeting with internals." They walked along at a slow pace together.

Wash glanced at him. "Oh, you did?"

"Yeah. Do you mind if I ask what it was about?"

Wash tilted his head slightly. "Mm. I'm not really supposed to talk about that," he answered, shaking his head.

"Help me out here," North coaxed. He hesitated slightly, stopping his walk to turn and look out the window. "I'm… still getting heat about using equipment in the field."

Washington turned around sharply. "You did? Really?" He asked incredulously. "Without a pipeline back to the Command server?"

North shrugged. "I had to improvise. We had a problem."

Wash smiled teasingly inside his helmet. "Let me guess- are you related to this problem?"

The other agent chuckled, waving him off. "Okay, now _I_ don't wanna talk about it," he commented.

Wash paused, then spoke wonderingly. "Equipment in the field…" His voice took on a note of warning. "Don't forget what happened to Utah during training. You're lucky it didn't kill you," he advised, catching up easily.

"If I was _lucky_ ," North interjected," I wouldn't have needed to use it at _all_."

Wash sighed. "Well, you can relax." At North's questioning look, he continued, "Internals didn't ask about you. It was something else… Lots of questions about the Insurrection and transmissions coming out of our-"

He was cut off by a soldier accidentally bumping into him, and at that moment, the two Freelancers noticed the multiple soldiers running in one direction together. "Sorry, sir!" The soldier apologized.

"Hey, what's going on?" Wash questioned. "Soldier, where is everybody running?"

"There's some new agents. They're squaring off against Maine, Wyoming, and York on the training room floor. We're going to watch!" He took off again, calling out to his friends, "Hey guys! Wait up!"

The two agents paused, then looked at each other before North spoke. "Three on two? Doesn't seem very fair."

Wash grinned. "I _gotta_ see this."

North nodded as Wash headed off, trailing behind him. "Yeah, right behind you."

—–

 _Three. Two. One. Round begin_. The three Freelancers in the training room ran together, each carrying a pugil stick. One of the two other Agents, armor entirely black, swept all three of them off their feet in one go– along with her hapless teammate in blue. The four flew through the air, and hit the ground hard.

"Owww… mother _fucker_!" The blue one groaned.

Up in the training booth, Agent Carolina called out, "What's going on down there?" to her fellow Freelancer, Agent South Dakota.

The other woman answered, "There's no training sessions on the schedule-it's impromptu."

"Who the hell is _that_?"

South shrugged. "Some new recruits."

Back on the floor: York, Maine, and Wyoming got up, and charged back at the black-armored Agent. An instant later, they were swiftly beaten back. Just as the new blue-armored recruit got up, Wyoming slammed into him and knocked him off his feet again; eliciting no less than a few dozen cuss words directed at the black-armored one.

Wash chuckled. "Wow. The one in black sure doesn't move like he's a recruit- neither of them do."

South looked to him sharply. "Why do you assume it's a _guy_? _She's_ ," she gestured to the black one, "a girl."

Wash stumbled. "O-oh. I didn't really mean that he- I mean it- I mean, her-"

"Just shut up."

"Right…And the other one?"

"Totally a guy," Carolina chimed in. "Both of you, can it."

South smirked. "Sounds like _someone_ might be a little concerned about their position…"

"Hey South? _Pay attention_. You might actually _learn_ something if you stop running your _mouth_ for a minute," Carolina sassed back.

On the floor, York and Maine slowly got to their feet, as the black-armored Freelancer approached with Wyoming pinned to her back via her pugil stick.

Maine thumped the blue Freelancer in the chest with one end of the stick; pinning him down for another few moments. It was ultimately unnecessary, because it didn't look like he was planning on getting up in the first place.

In one fluid movement, the black Freelancer both electrocuted and whacked Maine and York, sending them off into the air again.

Meanwhile, Wyoming crashed to the ground behind her. He got to his feet- only to swiftly find himself in a one-on-one fight. They clashed staffs for a few seconds before she scored a hit to his face.

As Wyoming went down, York snuck up behind the black freelancer-only for him to go flying off again a moment later as he received the same fate as Wyoming.

After just a few seconds, Maine was next. He felt a lot like a baseball that got hit by a major league baseball player as he was hit with her pugil stick to the face, breaking it in the process. Texas cast off the other end of the stick, walking off as Maine managed to stand up for a few seconds, then collapsed again. As he fell, FILLIS's voice echoed through the arena.

 _Round one, over. Pugil sticks training complete. Point awarded to Texas and Colorado. The current score is Team 1, 0…_

—

Back in the booth, Washington glanced back. "Texas, huh?"

Carolina crossed her arms. "I thought that name was reserved."

"She's got nice moves."

"It could be luck," South interjected.

"We'll see," Carolina concurred.

FILISS's voice came over the intercom again _. Beginning hand-to-hand combat_.

Wash grinned. "The other one- Colorado, was it? He's _totally_ gonna get his ass handed to him."

—

 _Round two in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Round two begin._

All Freelancers on the floor slipped into fighting stances, squaring up and raising their fists.

New York spoke, "Okay you guys, this one should be easy. Let's just play it by the book. Maine, how about you flank left and-" He never got to finish, as said Freelancer took off, then subsequently got knocked back to the floor before he could finish talking.

Both Wash and Wyoming looked over, then looked back at Texas. "… _Or_ , you could just charge in and get immobilized first." York adjusted his stance and looked to Wyoming. Okay. Wyoming, let's stick together and-" Just as he started to speak, Wyoming shot forward, and received the same treatment as Maine. " "What's the story? Am I the _only one_ on this team that knows how to _talk_?" York griped to himself.

"I don't think _talking's_ your problem," a new voice spoke.

York turned around. "Oh, no." Just as he went to punch her, she struck first, sending him careening backwards as Maine and Wyoming stood up. Wyoming got kicked backwards, then Maine got punched, grabbed, and thrown across the floor.

"I could use a little help here, Colorado!" she called out as York s

"Nah, I think you got this!" the agent responded from his stance a few yards back. "I'll just stay here… you keep.. doin' what you're doin'."

—

"Wow. Okay, _that_ was pretty impressive," North said up in the booth.

—

York managed to stand up, looking around. "Okay, guys. That obviously didn't work so well," he commented as he dropped back into a defensive stance. "How about this time we stay in formation, instead of- _damn it_." He dropped off with a curse as Maine and Wyoming charged Texas. "Can't believe I actually _volunteered_ for this crap," he grumbled under his breath as he followed them. Maine got hit back first, taking a few kicks to the torso. Wyoming then attempted to hit her, only to get knocked back by a solid punch to the visor. York then stepped in, attempting to land a few hits, only to find them all countered with ease and was punched to the floor on the back of his neck. Maine attempted to come at Texas from behind, only to get tripped onto his back as Texas dodged a hit from York.

—

"Dude, why the _hell_ isn't Colorado fighting?" North wondered aloud. At the curious look he received from South, he elaborated, "Look at him. He's literally just hiding in the corner!"

"Maybe he doesn't want to fight. Or maybe he's a wimp."

"A wimp, a _Freelancer_?" Carolina scoffed. "He couldn't have gotten this far in the Program without being at least _decent_."

"Good point. He should at least _try_ to fight, though…" North trailed off.

—

York put up his fists, mirroring Colorado. "So, why haven't you been joining in the fight? I figure, you must be half as good as Agent Texas over there if you got paired up with her," he mused.

Colorado laughed self-deprecatingly. "Dude, are you fuckin' _kidding_ me? Texas is scary as hell. _Nobody_ is as good as her. I've just been staying out of the way so she doesn't accidentally _murder_ me.

"You… have a point. She is pretty good, huh?" York asked. Before Colorado could answer, he struck, landing a blow directly on Colorado's shoulder.

"Ow, holy _fuck_! _Damn_ , man, you hit _hard_!" Colorado complained loudly. He held his hand to his arm, jumping back as York proceeded to hit him multiple times, Colorado only barely managing to block the blows.

"Come on, Colorado! You can't just keep hiding in a corner!" York chastised him.

"Betcha I could."

"No, you can't." York stepped back. "Hit me."

Colorado did a double-take, looking at him incredulously. " _Do what now_?"

"Hit me."

"Wh- no! I'm not gonna hit you!"

"Goddamn it, Colorado, _HIT ME_!"

"FUCK, fine!" Colorado lurched forward, aiming a few punches to York's arms and torso, only to find them blocked. He grinned, then threw himself fully into the fight, attempting to sweep York's legs out from underneath him, then blocked a hit from above as York had aimed a punch at him from above. They continued until York landed a final hit to Colorado, hitting him firmly in the back of the neck and knocking him down, out for the count.

Just as York thought he'd won, he turned around, and saw Texas standing behind him with her hands on her hips.

"Aw, son of a _bit_ -"

—

Up in the booth, Washington grimaced in sympathy. "Ooh, that must have _hurt_." As he spoke, FILISS called out over the intercom. _Round over. Point, Texas and Colorado. Hand-to-hand combat complete. Now resetting the floor for lock-down paint scenario._

"Ugh, I hate that paint," Washington complained as he turned around and leaned on the windowsill.

"Heh, tell me about it," South agreed. "Stings like a bitch."

"Turns your armor hard as a rock," North chimed in.

"I wouldn't know," Carolina said. The others turned to look at her incredulously. "It's not bad if you don't let it hit you.

"Thanks. I'll try to remember that," Wash said sarcastically.

—

 _Round 3 in five, four, three, two, one. Round three begin._

Team 1 walked up to the table of guns, Wyoming putting a hand to his back with a slight pain. They hid behind the provided cover, while on the other side, Colorado and Texas took guns as well.

Texas eyed Colorado's choice of sniper. "You sure you know how to use that?" She queried.

Colorado chuckled. "I may be shit at fighting, and I may have some pretty shit eyesight without my glasses, but I can use a fucking gun. Trust me on this one- I've got your back." He climbed up into one of the hidden sniper spots, checking over his rifle one last time.

"All right. I'm counting on you," she warned him.

"Don't worry, Texas. I've got you." He watched from his spot as Texas shot Maine a few times before punching him backwards, knocking him head over heels, then turned and got Wyoming in the face as he staggered backwards. He saw York slip out from cover, grumbling to himself, and grinned as he lined up his shot. He didn't shoot yet, and only would if Texas couldn't handle it, so he kept watching through the zoomed-in scope.

Colorado almost laughed out loud as Texas started messing with York, running from cover to cover so fast that York couldn't see her until a few moments too late. He winced in sympathetic pain as Tex inflicted a blow to York's helmet, then kneed him in the groin twice before shooting him point-blank, knocking him over and ending the round.

What followed after was continuous win after win for Colorado and Texas, with Texas doing most of the ass-kicking and Colorado only having to step in a few times to further solidify the opposing team in paint. He could almost see the frustration on York's face as no matter what strategy they tried, Texas kept handing his ass to him on a painted platter.

However, as the final round began, Colorado noticed something as he checked out the other team. Something seemed… off. As Wyoming and Maine passed each other, Wyoming slipped a round into Maine's hand, who then proceeded to exchange the cartridges. It looked like Wyoming had simply gotten an extra round for Maine, so he wouldn't have to get it himself, but it seemed strange. Colorado shrugged it off, then quickly switched out the ammo in his rifle.

However, everything changed in a matter of seconds when the bullets that came out of Wyoming and Maine's guns were _actual bullets_ and not paint. Colorado swore violently and looked for Tex, but she was avoiding all the bullets easily as he overheard the people in the booth discussing amongst themselves. He shrugged and figured it was something normal for the final round, but couldn't help the feeling of worry as the bullets started decimating the cover blocks.

While he was thinking, Maine bust out of the paint block Texas had gotten on his hand, and tried to land a punch on her before he himself was thrown back. He still managed to flip the pin on a grenade, and threw it at Texas.

Colorado's eyes widened as the grenade missed but rolled next to York, who was still recovering. He caught on to Texas's plan to cover York in as much protective paint as possible, and fired at him as much as he could before the grenade went off. Immediately, the booth descended into chaos, people yelling to FILISS that a medical team was needed on the ground floor. He ditched the sniper rifle and jumped down, rolling into a run as he hit the ground.

—

"York. York!" Carolina called out to the prone body on the ground. "Get over here, _now_!" she yelled at a nearby medical officer.

Colorado jogged up, asking quietly, "Is he gonna be okay?" When he was ignored, he decided to hang back and let them figure out what was going on.

"Come on, York. Hang in there," Carolina murmured.

"What I can't believe is that you guys did that to him!" South yelled, pushing back Colorado. "What the fuck were you two thinking, sacrificing him like that!"

"W-whoa, I-" Colorado stumbled backwards, putting his hands up as Washington stepped in.

"You know, South, it's likely they saved his life. Lock-down paint _hardens_ the armor, remember?"

"Quick thinking, you two," North commented.

"Yeah.. really quick," Carolina said quietly, looking over to where Texas was being attended to by a med team.

"Everyone, stand down. Now!" The familiar voice of the Director called out, and the Freelancers standing around shot up and slid into a line. "You should be ashamed of yourselves," he continued, berating them as he walked down the line. "I _expect_ you to act as a _team_."

"They used live ammunition on the floor, sir. That's _against regulations_ -" Washington protested.

The Director focused on Wash. "Do you think our _enemies_ will care about regulations on the _battlefield_ , Agent Washington?" he interrogated. The line of Freelancers stumbled back slightly in shock.

"So… you're not _punishing_ them?" Wash asked.

"Ingenuity and adaptability are admirable traits," the Director explained. "You should _all_ learn something from this."

"Dismissed."

As the Director walked off, CT quipped, "Yeah. We should learn something, _all right_."

"I can't believe this!" Washington cried out disbelievingly.

"Don't forget to check your place on that list, Wash!" CT said as she stalked off. Carolina turned around to look at Texas as she refused help from the medical team surrounding her, then turned to glare at Colorado.

"What are you lookin' at?" he said, obviously upset. He turned and walked away, obviously angry about something, though what it was, she couldn't tell yet.

—-

Colorado yelled out as he got to the common room of the apartments the main Freelancers shared. He punched the door, then paused and stopped as someone else in the room cleared their throat.

"Ahem."

He spun around, looking at the people who were gathered in the common room. " _What_?! What do you people _want_?!"

…There was dead silence in the room as the Freelancers were completely baffled.

Colorado snarled. "What- _fucking_ -ever. If anyone goddamn needs me, _don't_. I'm going to my room." He stalked off, unlatching his helmet as he entered. He sat down on the bed, looking around his provided quarters- unadorned and as if nobody had ever been in there. He put his head in his hands, searching his brain for why the hell was he so upset? He had no reason to be. He'd been on the winning team, had earned a couple points, and he had no reason to be so fucking angry. He got out of his armor, knowing there would be a few days until the next mission. Slowly, he climbed into a pair of sweatpants and an old UNSC t-shirt, then slid onto his bed before grabbing his datapad and started working out a complicated equation that had been bugging him. For some reason, doing hard math equations and working out scenarios had helped keep him calm- that was part of the reason why he'd been recruited into Project Freelancer. He had an uncanny knack for setting up military scenarios and teams that would work out missions rather well, with complementing personalities within the operatives that would tend to work out and minimize internal conflict. He started setting up one of those such scenarios, running a hand through his scruffy hair and adjusting his glasses.

 _Knock knock knock_. He glanced up a few hours later, checking the time as he yelled out, "It's open."

"Hey. I saw you fight York today- you were pretty good," a girl with bright red hair said as she entered the room.

Colorado chuckled. "And you are…?"

"Carolina. Agent Carolina. And you're Agent Colorado, right?"

"Yeah. Anyway, do you need something?" he asked.

Carolina leaned against the wall. "I just thought you might like to know that York is out of emergency and he's awake."

Colorado sat bolt-upright. "He's okay?" he asked. Carolina stepped back carefully.

"They're letting him have visitors in a little while. He… he lost the use of his left eye for the most part," Carolina said carefully.

Colorado sighed and rubbed at his face. "Well, fuck. Will he ever get it back? No, no, don't answer that." He stood up, pulling on some boots and tucking his sweatpants into them. "Either way, I have some calculations to go do for the Director. If anyone needs me, I'll be lurking around the ship." He grinned sadly at her, then slipped out the door before she could say anything, shutting and locking the door after making sure she was out, then headed off, his datapad tucked under one arm.

 _Lost one eye, huh?_ he thought to himself. _Damn, that must be rough. Hopefully, his A.I. will help him out._ He pulled up a holographic display of the mission the Director was having him set up- though for what reason he still wasn't entirely sure. As he walked, he arranged certain things on the datapad, playing around with variables and operatives for the mission, then set it away for further contemplation as he arrived at the medical bay. By the time he'd arrived, he found out that York was able to have visitors now, and requested to see him. His request was approved, and he slowly walked in, setting down the pad on a nearby table as he sat down in a chair beside the bed.

"Hey," Colorado said lamely. "Sorry… about… you know-"

" _Stop_ , man. You and Tex _saved my life_ with that strategy," York interrupted. "As much as it's gonna be a pain in the ass, I'll be fine. Delta can help me out, right, D?" At the prompt, the green A.I. appeared, hovering above York's shoulder. Colorado shuddered slightly looking at Delta, as if someone had dragged nails on a chalkboard along his spine.

"Of course, Agent York. I would be happy to help compensate for your missing eye. May I ask, who is your new companion?" the polite A.I. spoke, looking at Colorado.

 _Something's wrong.. GET OUT OF THERE_! Every instinct in Colorado's body was telling him to run the fuck away from this AI for some reason. He backed up slightly, only now processing that Delta had spoken to him. "Wh-what? Y-yeah… I .. uh, I have to go… Uh, feel better, York." As he backed away, he knocked into the table holding his datapad, then grabbed it as he rushed out the door. He leaned against the wall on the other side, breathing heavily as he tried to figure out _why the fuck an AI prompted such a violent reaction_. He tried to wave off a medical officer, but couldn't speak when they asked him what was wrong. He slid down the wall, his breathing laboured as the medical officer flitted around him nervously, trying to get him to talk.

"I- I'm fine…" He stumbled to his feet and unsteadily walked out of the medical bay, holding on to the wall until he could get his breathing back to normal. He managed to make it back to the common room, which this time was thankfully empty. Colorado crashed down onto his bed, realizing that _no_ , he _wasn't_ fine, and his last thought before he blacked out was: _I really hope I'm not needed for any missions anytime soon._

—

"Director?"

The Director turned around from his view of the planet to see Carolina standing behind him, along with the other Freelancers the mission was requiring. "Yes, Agent Carolina."

"The team is ready, sir," she said.

The Director clicked his tongue, then replied, "Excellent. Let us begin." As he walked past Carolina, she trailed after him. "Agents," he continued, "your mission today is by far the _most important_ you've undertaken to _date_. As our number one, Carolina will be leading from the field." As he spoke, Carolina walked around the table to stand at the other end, and pressed buttons on the keypad to set up the mission hologram.

"Okay. Here's what we have. As you may have heard," Carolina began, "there has been suspected Insurrection activity in this area." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed CT look at her sharply. "Our intel says that members of the UNSC loyal to the Insurrection have acquired a high-level asset in this secure location." She brought up a schematic of the building they were to break into, explaining, "It's a 110-story building in the middle of an urban environment.

Wyoming asked, "What does security look like?"

Carolina answered sarcastically, "They have enough enough troops to fill a 110-story building."

"So that's a lot of security."

Carolina shrugged. "We're up to it. Our job is to infiltrate the building, work our way up to the floor where the sarcophagus is being held, and secure it."

North looked at her skeptically. "The sarcophagus?"

The Director spoke up. "That is what we're calling the primary objective," he explained.

"But," Carolina cut in, "since this is a high-level asset, we need to access a key code to open the sarcophagus."

Wash asked, "I'm guessing they don't keep that just taped to the side?"

"It's held by an official of the program who will be moving in a vehicle along the freeway between inspections." She changed the layout of the hologram to include a road and moving car. " _That's_ when we'll hit the facility. We need to acquire both targets within minutes of each other." She looked seriously at her team. "If we fail that, the remaining target will enter lock-down, and we miss our window."

"We will _not_ have another chance at this," the Director intoned.

Washington said, "So… that means two teams."

"Two teams," Carolina agreed. "Team A will consist of me, Wash, and Maine. We will work infiltration on the package's storage facility. York is still in the infirmary, so Wash," she explained, looking at the aforementioned Freelancer, " _you_ will have to pull lock picking duty."

Washington shifted his weight hesitantly. "Um… okay? I guess I'll reread my field manual in the transport," he muttered. Behind him, a door opened with a _hissssss_.

"Hey," a voice none of them expected to hear. "Don't be so quick to give away my job," York said.

"Yeah, and what about me, fuckers?" said Colorado, who was standing beside him with a sniper rifle strapped to his back.

" _York_?" Washington asked disbelievingly.

Carolina took a few steps toward him. "I thought you were in the hospital?"

"According to their records," York chuckled, "I am. _This_ one," he nudged Colorado, "caused enough of a distraction to where I could escape the smell of infirmary."

"How's your eye?" she asked as Colorado walked toward the table and leaned on the wall.

"It's okay. Docs are letting me out tomorrow," York answered confidently.

" _Tomorrow_ , huh?" Washington asked him skeptically.

"Look, I couldn't let you guys have all the fun without me. Besides," he said, leaning his hands on the table, "you need somebody to get you in."

Washington walked carefully towards Carolina. "Listen, I'm happy to see him too. But this mission… I don't know-"

"Hey," she cut him off, "York says he's good, then he's good."

Wash sighed. "It's your call, boss."

Carolina walked up to him and spoke in a hushed tone, "You're good… right?"

"Okay, look. I said I was _okay_. _Good_ might be _overselling_ it a little," he answered wryly.

"It's settled, then." the Director spoke. "York will join Team A and get them in the facility."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Transport will be two lightly equipped Pelican dropships," Carolina said, getting back on track.

"We're rigged for _fast running only_ , people," 479er said. " _No_ heavy armaments."

"Team B will be North, Wyoming, and CT. You will act as recon for Team A, and once we enter the building you will disengage to attack the target on the freeway," Carolina explained. "North will lead Team B."

"Got it," North said.

"Hey, what about me?" Colorado asked.

"You're with me in the air," 479er said. "You get to hang out with that rifle of yours if things get a little hairy."

"Hey, what about Agent South?" CT asked.

The Director answered, "Agent South will _not_ be accompanying you on this mission."

"Hmm. I guess the world's a tough place when you move down a rank," CT said sardonically. "And where's our other new recruit? Will _she_ be joining us?"

"That's _enough_ questions, Connecticut," the Director said firmly.

Under her breath to Washington, she said, "Noticed he didn't say no?" in a sing-songy voice.

"Team B should be simple," Carolina cut in. "Stop the vehicle and grab the case. Team A, you have more of a challenge. _Mainly_ , the sarcophagus is an _unknown_."

"…How unknown are we talking?" Washington asked hesitantly.

"Unknown in that we don't know its size or weight or dimensions," Colorado stepped in to explain. At sharp looks to him, he continued, pulling up a new graphic on the hologram, "All that we know is that it will have these markings somewhere on the exterior."

North spoke up. "I saw those same markings on the oil platform…"

"Correct," the Director affirmed. "That facility _created_ the primary objective."

"Do we know what's inside it?" Washington asked.

"Yes. We know."

"How do we know what's in it… but not know how big it is?" CT asked. At a look from the Director, she lowered her head apologetically. " _Sorry_ , sir."

"We have a job to do, people," Carolina said. "Let's do it right and come home safe."

"That is all," the Director agreed. "You are dismissed."

At those words, all the Freelancers stood at attention and simultaneously chorused, "Yes, sir."

—


	2. Chapter 2

**On we go. Info at the bottom.**

 **-PA**

"So… Where are you from? I'm guessing… Colorado?" North asked casually. He sat across the Pelican from Colorado, who instead of being strapped in like most of the Agents was standing, holding onto a strap on the ceiling to brace himself.

Colorado chuckled. "Actually, no," he answered. At the surprised looks he got, he elaborated, "Truth be told, I can't really remember _where_ I grew up- I think it was probably a colony from before the war."

At the looks that answer received, he looked at them curiously, then shrugged it off. "Oh hey, we're almost there." The assorted Freelancers on the mission shook themselves out of their surprise and maneuvered out of the seats, as North turned on his radio to the assigned channel and spoke.

"Team A, you look clear. Window is open." North looked out the open hatch of the back of the plane, continuing, "Start your clocks. On my mark." A few seconds later, he said, "Mark," and in return, CT replied over the radio.

"Synch."

Carolina spoke up, "Roger that, Team A is moving." Leaning over, Colorado saw the team carefully jump out of the back of the plane.

"Well, that's one _hell_ of an entrance," he commented to himself.

"Copy that, Carolina," North said, glaring at him lightly. "Good luck, Team A," he added as they saw Team A's Pelican turn away to find someplace to hide while the mission went on.

"Thanks. We won't need it," Carolina replied.

Colorado rubbed the back of his neck carefully, aware of the weak spot in the armor. "Hopefully," he spoke up. "Just in case you do."

North moved to the middle of the hold and held onto a handhold in the ceiling, ordering, "All right Bravo. Let's move out. We have three minutes until first alert. Let's have our target in hand by two. Colorado," he murmured, "you're watching our backs, right?"

Colorado chuckled, hefting his sniper rifle. "Dude, first sign I see shit gets weird, I'm there," he answered confidently. "Don't tell 479er but if I have to," he lowered his voice to a whisper, then continued, "I'm actually pretty good at jumping out of planes and surviving."

North chuckled. "I'll keep that secret." He turned and gestured to his team to line up beside him, then together, they jumped out of the hatch of the plane, with North giving a final wave to Colorado as he fell.

Colorado gaped at the falling Freelancers, who apparently had next-to-no landing equipment or anything, before huffing and walking to the front of the plane. "I swear to God, man," he complained to 479er, "They're all _fucking insane._ "

The pilot chuckled. "Trust me, Agent Colorado, I've been dealing with their tendencies for quite a while and I know that."

He sat down in the secondary pilot's chair, taking care not to touch any of the buttons as she landed on a nearby building and activated a cloaking device to hide the plane. To anyone watching, they had effectively disappeared. The advantage to being mostly invisible- except for a faint outline that was hard to see- was that if a sniper, such as Colorado, were to be hiding on the plane, they would have a perfect position to see everything that was going on.

"So, I know the rest of the Freelancers all call you by your pilot's designation," Colorado began, "but that just sounds too _stuffy_. Would you mind if I called you something else?"

She shrugged. "I dunno, man. That seems like it's mixing personal business with work, and that's something that _we don't do._ Ever."

"Ah-ha-ha. Yeah. Uh, sorry for asking."

She grinned. "Seriously, though, were you _actually curious_ or just bored as hell? Because hopefully, unless they fuck something up majorly, we-"

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT THE HELL?!" Colorado yelled out as _fire_ burst out of the floor of the building where the mission was taking place. He ran to the back of the Pelican and focused through his rifle scope, trying to see what was going on as he turned on his radio. "Team A, come in, what the _fuck is happening?!"_

"BIG GUY WITH A FIRE GUN, TALK TO YOU LATER!" Washington's voice yelled out. "Whoa, that's hot!" The radio from Washington cut off abruptly, just as the B team called in.

"Yo, Colorado, what's going on? We heard Wash yelling over the radio and saw _fire_ \- ya wanna clue us in?" North's voice sounded.

Colorado sighed. "Look, dude, the A team's gotten into some trouble, but I'm sure they can handle it. _Stick to the mission,"_ he reminded North. "I'm watching and making sure they've got this."

"All right, you heard him, stick-" North said before turning his radio off. Colorado put a hand on his helmet, dragging it down the visor, then heard 479er call out to him.

Not a moment after the radio cut off, the MOI shot off its main cannon and sent a laser _through the target building_ , shattering it.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

"Better grab on to something- we're about to do something insane."

"Wait- _what- AHHHHH!"_ The Pelican suddenly took off, leaving Colorado to be thrown out of it, as he wasn't able to anchor himself in time due to his surprise. He twisted in midair and aimed for a parked jeep, but only managed to slam into the ground next to it. Colorado groaned in pain at the impact before picking himself up, then getting on the radio.

"Hey, A team. You need a ride?"

"C'mon, Maine! Where are you?" Colorado yelled out over the radio, searching on his trackers for the other Agent. Just after he finished talking, the trackers pinged and a red dot showed up on his HUD, showing that Maine was about 300 yards from him. He slammed on the gas, driving the jeep towards him, then stopped.

"So, do you wanna drive, or me? Cause I'll handle the radio if we can pick up Carolina and- HOLY SHIT!" Colorado never finished as he only barely managed to jump out of Maine's way into the secondary seating, then Maine _punched_ the gas pedal, sending them zooming off at as fast as the jeep could go. He then drove the pair over a ramp, Colorado cussing him out almost constantly the whole time, and picked up two _more_ falling Freelancers.

"Wh- _are we in a car?!"_ York yelled out in disbelief.

"Welcome to the party!" Colorado answered at an equal volume. He started to laugh, a bit insanely, at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation, turning on the radio and putting on a fast-paced rap that he thought fit.

They drove through a tunnel, loud music blaring as Maine wove through traffic recklessly. Carolina turned to Colorado and cried out, "I thought you were on the Pelican!"

"Yeah, well, then you BLEW UP A FUCKING BUILDING!" Colorado yelled out in response. "LIKE WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?!"

"Eh."

"Oh for fuck's sake-" Colorado started to chew them out, but was silenced when they barreled out of the tunnel exit and turned to see the building's collapsed remains in shock. "Well, let it never be said you guys aren't _really good_ at overkill."

"Will you _cut the sarcasm?"_ York called.

"It's my way of dealing with _fucking crazy shit that's going on! DEAL WITH IT!"_

They all simultaneously screamed as they flew over a jump, almost landing on another car, then Carolina swung up into the gunner's position. "Where'd you two even _find_ this car, anyway?" York yelled over the wind.

"Places! Now shut up!" Colorado yelled back. Over the radio, he heard Carolina calling for a report from the B team, then found out that they were in pretty bad shape as well. Carolina ordered Maine to cut the package holders off at the overpass, and held on when Maine pushed the gas even further. He glanced up and saw a firey light crashing down to the planet, and thought, _Oh, hey. It's Tex. Cool._

"So, uh, you guys should probably know that-"

"Shut up, Colorado!"

"No, you _really probably wanna-"_

"I said, shut up!"

" _Jeez._ Fine. Tetchy, aren't we?" he huffed and crossed his arms.

They parked the jeep on the overpass and climbed out of it, taking a moment to breathe and regain their bearings as they waited for the other target to come by. Colorado slumped by the side of the jeep, breathing heavily.

"Dude, if I'd known this level of bullfuckery was what I signed up for, I totally don't regret it. This shit is _awesome!"_ he exclaimed quietly. He saw Maine jump off the edge, and winced at the frankly _brutal_ way he got the package. "Okay, that right there. That's badass." They piled back into the jeep, this time with York driving, Colorado kneeling on the back platform, and Carolina holding on to the machine turret. They drove off the overpass, picking up Maine on the way after a brief stop to let the adrenaline settle.

"Nice work, Maine," Carolina complimented.

"Thanks," Maine accepted in his gruff voice. He climbed into the car, York already making a sarcastic comment.

"Yep, subtle as always," he said, starting the jeep again. "Response team is probably on the way."

Carolina spoke for all of them when she spoke. "Let's get the _hell_ out of here."

"Hold on," York said before hitting the gas.

They took off again, Colorado turning around and looking up at the two planes that were following them. "Anybody else starting to get a bad feeling about this?" he asked.

They weaved through the traffic, York calling out meaningless pleasantries such as "Coming through!" and "Hey, watch it!" as they sped on the highway, likely causing a few accidents. The planes caught up to them, and Carolina spun around the turret.

"Here they come!" she warned, taking aim at a few of the jetpacked soldiers. Colorado managed to take out a few of the background soldiers, but the way the jeep kept veering around the road every other second kept throwing off his aim.

He was still facing behind, trying to take out the soldiers, when the jeep veering dramatically and Maine fell forward. "Sniper!" he heard Carolina yell out, and started to turn around, when she put a hand on his shoulder. "Colorado, keep shooting at them- keep them busy," she ordered.

"Got it." He shot a few guys on jeeps, then exclaimed in shock when Texas came out of nowhere, blowing up one of the helicopters and shooting the soldiers on the ground with an assault rifle. "You know," he muttered to himself, "if it was _literally anybody else,_ I'd be surprised. But I'm not."

"Punch it, York!" Carolina yelled, only to receive a response of, "IT IS PUNCHED!" from York. He glanced behind to see Carolina engaging a jetpacked soldier in a hand-to-hand battle on the hood of the car, and shook his head.

"Literally. Fucking. Insane," he muttered.

"MAINE!" he yelled out. The Agent in question stumbled onto the Pelican, and Colorado helped him buckle into the seats. "Dude, sit down," he said. He turned to 479er in the cockpit and yelled, "We need to pick up Carolina and Texas and get the _hell_ back to base."

She nodded in affirmative, just as she lowered the craft enough for York to grab Carolina and pull her onto the ship.

"Where's Agent Tex-" he started. At an absolutely _ice-cold_ glare from Carolina- like, so cold it put _liquid nitrogen_ to shame-, he sat down and buckled into a seat sheepishly. "Ah, I think I'll shut up now."

They flew back to the Mother of Invention in silence, and Colorado helped get Maine onto a stretcher and sent to the hospital on ship. He sighed, then went back to the lockers to get out of his armor, knowing that there'd probably be some crazy shit going on in there. He glanced at the leader board, then silently acknowledged the other two Freelancers in there, North and York.

They nodded their heads at him, glancing at each other in a way that he knew they'd been discussing something before he'd walked in.

"So. You guys think Maine's gonna be alright?" he asked them casually.

North shrugged. "He'll be fine. Maine's tough."

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess so." He opened his locker and unlatched his helmet, taking it off and looking at it. He hesitated a moment before speaking up. "So, I hate to ask… but, did you guys think it was kind of weird that even the _police_ were shooting at us?" he asked as he turned around, leaning against the locker panels.

"I dunno, man. It is pretty weird," York started, "but I don't think we're gonna have much time to be thinking about that pretty soon."

"Are you guys getting bad feelings too?" Colorado asked.

They glanced at each other, then shrugged.

"Great. _That_ makes me feel _so_ much better. Anyway, the next debriefing for the Director is in the morning, right?" Colorado said, tossing his helmet into the locker. He preferred to have his armor and bodysuit in his quarters or on his body, not in lockers. At their nod, he smiled. "Great. In any case, I have some simulations to start figuring out before I pass out from the crash of an adrenaline rush. You guys gonna be in the common room later?"

"Yeah, probably. Why?" North asked.

"Well, I heard that one of the new recruits snuck a few gaming systems on board that are compatible with the ship's systems- _but_ ," he said, seeing their excited looks, "you _didn't_ hear it from me. We wouldn't want to get caught, now, would we?"

"It's times like these, boys," a new, _female_ voice called out, making them all jump, "that people don't wanna know what you're talking about." They turned around to see Carolina looking at them with a shit-eating grin on her face.

"Ah, shut it, Carolina," Colorado said, shutting his locker and pushing his glasses up on his face. At the curious looks on the others' faces, he asked, "What? Is..there something on my face?"

"Yeah. Glasses," North said.

"I didn't even _think_ you wore them!" York chimed in.

"You look like my dad," Carolina said blandly.

He huffed. "In order, yes, glasses, i'm blind as _fuck_ without them, and _thaaaaaaaanks_." He drawled sarcastically. "If you'll ex- _cuse_ me, I have a probably-illegal Smash Bros tournament to set up."

He stalked out of the room, leaving behind a trio of Freelancers with equal expressions of "WTF" on their faces.

"Did… Did anyone else think he kind of looks familiar to someone else?" York asked into the silence of the room.

"...Really dude? Super Smash Bros _Melee?_ " Washington said as he entered the common area, out of armor and dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and socks.

"Fuck off, man, it's a classic!" Colorado defended himself.

"The graphics are totally out of date! Hell, even the _franchise_ is out of date!" Wash retorted.

"May I restate: _classic,_ " Colorado replied.

Wash shrugged. "I guess, if you like the oldies." Suddenly, he smiled sheepishly, saying, "Well, I can't really speak. I always did like the older games."

"HA! I fucking knew it!" Colorado called triumphantly, planting his hands on his hips. "I fucking called it."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Anyway, you know we just got another mission assignment?" Washington asked, plopping down into a couch.

Colorado twitched, then face-palmed. "For fuck's sake, seriously? We _barely_ made it out of the _last one!_ "

"Relax, man, it's not for a few days from now," Washington reassured him, waving him down into a chair. "Till then, we train and work on surviving."

"You got that right," Colorado said. "I bet that in a minute, the Director will send-" _BEEEEEP!_ A shrill sound cut him off, both men looking over to his bag in the corner. Colorado plodded over, his socked feet rubbing against the plush carpet, then stopped and pulled open his bag. He hissed as the static electricity shocked him, then shook his hand out and took out his datapad, flicking through it.

"Aaaaaaand I knew it," he muttered to himself. At Washington's confused look, he elaborated, "The Director brought me on to the Project mainly because I'm good with numbers and computer-y shit. So, instead of getting his A.I.s to do it, he instead has _me_ set up the mission operatives based on who I think can do the mission the best."

"Wait- so you're responsible for South not going on that last mission?!" Washington cried out in disbelief. "Dude, _never_ let her know that. She'd kick your ass into next _Tuesday._ "

"You know just as well as I do that South is a wildcard on any mission. She doesn't listen to orders, but does what she thinks is best to get the mission done at any cost. That'd be great if we were going on _suicide missions_ ," he stressed. Colorado continued, "It's currently in her best interest to stay and train- however, if both I and the Director agree on it, I might let her into the next mission. Possibly."

Washington sighed, sinking further into the couch. "You should. Skipping her on two missions back-to-back would cause her to probably go on a murderous rampage."

"Well, you aren't wrong," a new voice said. Both Colorado and Wash jumped, turning around to see York. He grinned, then said, "By the way. You two should probably check before discussing topics like South- who knows who's listening? Be glad it was me and not South."

"Yeah, no kidding," Colorado said, sighing. He visibly shook himself, before picking up his controller and indicating the other guys.

"So… Smash, anyone?"

A loud sound filtered through the relative quiet of the common room, save for idle conversation and the sounds of a video game coming from the large television. The sound, which was quickly identified as a frustrated scream of anger.

"God _damn it,_ Colorado!" York yelled. "Will you _stop winning for fuck's sake!"_

"Mm...nah," Colorado replied teasingly. "Also, I wasn't _aware_ we had a fucking _pterodactyl_ on the team."

"Shut up," York moped. He tossed the controller aside, then stood up and sulked to the couch before sinking into it. "Anybody else want a turn with the nigh-undefeated champion?"

"I'll do it."

York, along with everyone else, turned around to see Carolina standing there, grinning.

" _You?"_ Colorado said disbelievingly. "Oh, come on."

" _What_?" Carolina replied, walking over to him with her hands on her hips before dropping into the beanbag next to him, picking up a controller and flipping her bright red hair out of her face. "Are you _scared?_ "

"Of you?" Colorado asked incredulously. He sighed, ruffling his hair absently, then answered, "Within a healthy capacity, yes."

"Good. Be afraid." Carolina picked out her character, going with the mascot of the Nintendo franchise.

"Seriously? You're picking _Mario?"_ York catcalled. "Someone likes the classics."

"Hey, it's better than _Jigglypuff_ ," Carolina shamelessly teased, turning to Colorado with a smirk.

"Ohhhhh, you'll see. You'll ALL see!" he exclaimed, finalizing the characters and selecting Final Destination as the level.

About ten minutes later, both Colorado's and Carolina's damage meters were both around 200%, with Carolina's being the larger number at 195% and Colorado's at 176%. The match came to a conclusion with a loud yelling.

"Hey, Carolina," Colorado called, charging up the Rollout attack. "You wanna know what they call me?"

Carolina sighed. "What?"

"THE SNIPER!" He let go of the attack, hitting Carolina's player directly and sending Mario careening off the screen, ending the match.

"NO! FUCK!" Carolina hollered, throwing down the controller. She ran a hand through her hair, then chuckled as she stood up, then extended a hand out to him. "You played good, Colorado."

"Fuck yeah, I did," he replied cockily, pulling himself up via her hand. He shook her hand with a grin, then continued, "You did good too. I might've overestimated you."

" _Might have?_ "

"Okay, okay, I did," he conceded, waving her down with a laugh. He sighed, then plodded over to the couches, taking a seat next to a dozing Washington, who was leaning slightly on Maine. Colorado smiled, then pulled out his datapad to begin working on a new mission lineup. He searched through the intel the Director had sent him, lining it up in a way that anyone could understand- anyone with Project Freelancer training, that is. He hesitated when it came to the operative lineups for the next mission.

"What is it?" Carolina asked, looking over his shoulder as she leaned over the back of the couch.

He yawned, scratching absently as his stubble in thought. "I have a choice on whether or not to bring North on the next mission, but considering the way she's acted on the last few… It's really up to how well she performs in training over the next few days- but I have to get this in before the mission briefing Wednesday," he explained.

"So basically, if you don't bring her, she'll kill you, but if you do bring her, someone else might get killed."

"Pretty fuckin much." He sighed, then closed the program, locking his tablet down. "I'm done for the night, though. I can't think with these nerds sawing logs," he gestured to the snoring York beside him. "I'll need to think about how York's new A.I. will affect the mission, too."

"He got his A.I. already? I thought that was scheduled for tomorrow?" Caroline inquired. She took a seat in the reclining armchair next to him, curling up with a blanket over her legs.

"Yeah, when the training accident happened before the Sarcophagus mission, they implanted it while he was in surgery. Saved time, you know?" He shrugged. "Personally, I think they should have waited till he'd recovered fully then gone ahead with the scheduled planning, but hey."

"Why didn't he use it during the mission though?" Carolina demanded. "If he had used it, it could've-"

"Delta was running tests without York at the time the mission was going on," Colorado said, sighing as he leaned into the couch. "The Director ordered it to see how well a Freelancer could cope without their A.I. after getting accustomed to it being with them."

"Oh. Yeah, that… sounds like the Director, alright." Carolina trailed off, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself. She sighed, then leaned back, closing her eyes. "I'm gonna go to sleep, okay?"

"Yeah. I'll probably pass out in a while too," he reasoned. "Night, Carolina."

"Good night, Colorado. Don't stay up too late working on that mission…"

"Heh. I won't."

 **A.N. So, as you can likely tell, I'm making subtle hints to people that Colorado (aka Church if you haven't figured it out yet) looks a bit like a younger version of the director. Scruffier hair and a more stubbly beard, but the resemblance is there. People will probably just think that they're related instead.**

 **Also, I only realized after posting the first chapter that I made a significant appearance with Delta, who by that time in the timeline hadn't even existed yet. I'm fixing this by explaining it this way:**

 **The A.I. fragments have been split off already. The Director was curious as to how the Alpha A.I. would act if he was given new memories and treated as a human, then was recruited back into the Freelancer Project- with the front being for his amazing technological skills and sniping ability, but the true reason being that the Director was unwilling to let his main A.I. get away from his influence.**

 **York was given Delta when the accident involving his eye happened. (in the last chapter.) While being prepped for surgery for the eye, the Director showed up with the A.I. implant and told the doctors to save time and put Delta in as well as fixing up York. In addition to this, he let York get accustomed (mostly) to having a second mind in his head, then took him away "to run simulations" for the mission.**

 **tl:dr, Explanations! Exposition! Other things that don't start with E! Subtle Wash/Maine if you look! (I don't ship it but hey. It's cute.) (Also, I'm not a big fan of Yorkalina, so there may be hints of an attempted relationship that broke off, but that'll likely be it. I'm not a shippy person for my fanfics. Art, yes, fanfics, no.)**

 **That's all for this week, folks! Next update will likely be next Sunday. Weekends are the only time I can actually sit down and write for hours on end (and even then I tend to go until 3 am. Sadness.)**

 **-Pho3n1xart**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here we go. If this chapter is shorter than usual, I didn't have as much time to write as I normally do. My midterm exams happened, and they** _ **sucked**_ **. More information at the bottom. My apologies for the delayed update as well.**

 **~PA**

"So what you're telling me is that you're kidnapping me and my A.I. for training?" York asked, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Yep. Director's orders," Colorado answered, sighing. "C'mon, man, let's go- the boss wants us in the training room in 20 minutes."

"20 minutes?!" York exclaimed. He wasn't in armor, only in loose clothing over his bodysuit. The bigger problem facing the pair was that the Freelancer apartments were on the complete opposite side- as well as 2 stories down- from the training arena they were scheduled to be in. They'd have to run to make it in time- and both knew _very_ well that being late for training, _especially_ when the Director was overseeing it, was something one _didn't_ do. "Shit, Col, you couldn't have told me earlier?"

"Don't call me that, and I just fucking got here!" Colorado snapped. He sighed, putting his hands on his hips. "Better hurry your ass, cause I'm not fuckin' waiting around." He jogged off, heading towards the arena with York scurrying after him in a panic, calling for him to wait up. Colorado slowed his pace slightly to let the other agent catch up before continuing at a jog towards the locker room.

"So… why'd you react so strongly to me calling you 'Col' earlier? You got something against nicknames?" York asked curiously.

Colorado shrugged. "Eh, it's not really a thing against nicknames- I just only let people nickname me who I know- you know, the people who I've known more than a few weeks."

"Wow. Harsh," York responded, feigning hurt. "So, if I can't nickname you, can I call you by your normal name?"

"No."

"Aw, come on."

" _No_ , York." Colorado stopped in his tracks and turned abruptly to him, taking York by the arm. "We were told when we joined the Project that we weren't supposed to use our old names, and we weren't supposed to let others know our old names." Colorado snapped out. His irritation was showing rather obviously, and he took a moment to calm down as York sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ah… yeah. Sorry," York apologized.

"It's cool." Colorado chuckled, then looked around. When he saw what he was looking for, he visibly deflated. "Aw, _fuck._ "

"What?"

He pointed the other agent towards the wall, where a digital clock was projected. The time showed 8:49 a.m… when they were supposed to be at the arena, ready to go, at 9 am. They were barely halfway there.

" _Fuck._ "

The two barely made it in time, breathing heavily with their hands on their knees as the Director entered the arena. They tiredly performed a salute, staying at attention until the Director spoke.

"Relax, boys. Today, Agent Colorado is going to help you, Agent York, with your A.I. in a simulated environment much like the one you will be in during your next mission." They loosened up, but didn't move far from where they stood. "I will be overseeing the simulations today. Colorado, you're going to be teaching Agent York how to cope with the presence of Delta, as well as teaching him how his equipment will be affected."

"Okay, cool," Colorado said, shaking out his arms. He looked over at York, who shrugged. "We'd better get started then, huh?"

The Director nodded and left the arena- and a moment later the room went dark, then changed with an abrupt flare of light.

York scanned the room and saw a large vault on a nearby wall. He walked over to the control panel nearby and started to "hack" into the system, bringing up a large holographic lock. York went over to it as Delta appeared, hovering above his shoulder. "Okay, D, what do we got?"

"It appears that we are to get past the numerous alarm systems hidden within the lock, get beyond it to whatever is inside, then get out without being seen by the simulated guard- in this case, Agent Colorado," Delta explained.

"Well, that doesn't seem too hard," York chuckled. He turned his attention to the lock and messed about with it. "You're poking around, aren't you?"

"You needn't worry, Agent York. My subroutines are looking through the simulated system, but my main focus is on the lock. I have already diverted multiple instances in which you would have triggered the alarms."

"Oh. Well, keep doing that, but make sure you keep your focus with me, okay?"

"Of course."

Up in the box, the Director stood with his arms crossed. Behind him, the doors whooshed open and closed as Agent Florida walked into the room. "Hello, sir!" Florida called out, sauntering up to the Director, while still maintaining an air of respect about him.

"Agent Florida. Tell me, how is Colorado doing?" the Director inquired. Florida chuckled in response, putting his hands on his hips.

"Sir, Colorado is doing fine from what I can tell. He's adjusting to the new circumstances, and hasn't questioned his previous memories. As far as I know, he has had minimal contact with the fragments, but…"

"But, you think that will likely change," the Director drawled.

"Yes, sir. It's inevitable that the Alph- I mean, Agent Colorado interacts with the others," Florida hastily corrected.

The Director sighed, twisting his fingers together. "You must make sure that Colorado has as little interaction with the fragments as possible outside of a professional environment. We _cannot_ let him find out about his past."

"Yes, sir."

"UGHHHHHH." Colorado and York groaned simultaneously as they walked into the common area, both flopping down on the nearest piece of furniture in exhaustion. Carolina glanced up from where she was curled up in an armchair, reading a book.

"Let me guess. After simulations with York's A.I., the Director pit you two against each other?" she guessed. At the twin groans her question received, she grinned. "You boys have no idea what's coming. CT and I got the same treatment when we joined- you remember, don't you, York? You were put against Maine when you joined."

"Ugh, don't remind me. That _sucked_ ," York complained into the pillow.

Colorado rolled over to face the ceiling- but in the process accidentally rolled off the couch he was flopped across. "Son of a bitch!" he cried out, landing painfully on the wooden floor. "Note to self," he muttered, sitting up and propping himself against the couch, "don't try and roll around on tiny couches."

"Duh," a semi-asleep voice muttered from above him.

"Shut the fuck up, Washington," he shot back venomously. Colorado reached up and latched onto the blanket that Washington was curled up under, yanking it off of him.

"Hey! Get your own blanket!" Washington cried out, grabbing a corner of the blanket and pulling it back towards himself. Colorado retaliated, thus causing the pair to break out into an impromptu tug-of-war over the blanket.

"My God, Colorado, here," Wyoming called out as he walked towards the bickering pair. He threw a quilt onto Colorado's head, effectively shushing him for a moment. "Stop acting like an old married couple."

"We aren't an old married couple!" Colorado and Washington yelled out in unison. Under his breath, Colorado added, "Cockbite." He pulled the quilt around his body, then dragged himself up onto the couch beside Washington. As Wyoming left the room, laughing loudly, Washington sighed and sunk into the couch pillows contentedly.

"No matter what, this couch is probably my favorite, honestly." At Colorado's raised eyebrow, he continued, "It's literally the softest couch I've come across in my work."

Colorado shrugged, relaxing slightly. "It… is pretty soft, I guess," he conceded. He pulled the quilt tighter around himself as the doors opened again, bringing with it cold air. "Fucking hell, shut the door! It's _cold!_ "

"I thought Colorado was a _cold_ state?" a teasing voice drawled into the relative quiet. Everyone turned around to see an un-armoured Tex leaning against the wall, grinning. Carolina bristled.

" _Wow_ , I guess my theory about you being just a suit of armour was wrong. Guess I owe Florida 20 bucks," Colorado quipped, standing up. Tex raised an eyebrow, stalking over to him.

"You _bet_ on me? I'm actually kind of _glad_ you lost that one, dickhead," she lashed at him. Tex put her hands on her hips as Colorado moved closer aggressively.

"Hell yeah I bet on you being a robot- you're basically emotionless all the fucking time!" Colorado responded without thinking. In the background, he heard Washington mutter to York quietly.

"Yup, he's fucked. 5 bucks he has to go to the infirmary."

"I say 10 he dies."

Texas gritted her teeth. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're picking a fight, Colorado."

Colorado backed up, realizing his mistake. "Oh fuck no. I just got out of sparring with York, and he kicked my ass. There is no way in hell I'm gonna- what the _fuck_?!" He yelled abruptly when Tex shot forward and grabbed his shirt, dragging him off. "Hold the fuck up, where are we going _now_?!"

Texas paused at the door and turned around to the gaping Freelancers gathered around the room. "If you want to see this dickhead get his ego cut down to size, be at the left-wing arena in half an hour." She continued on her rampage, dragging a struggling Colorado along with her.

"...Okay, does anyone want to explain what the _fuck_ just happened?"

30 minutes later, Colorado and Texas were circling each other, both with arms up mirroring each other's poses. Colorado cautiously spoke out.

"Uh, can I take back the bet? I've already gotten my ass kicked once today, and I'm not really looking forward to ano- whoa!" He jumped to the left, landing on his back in an attempt to avoid Tex coming at him with a punch aimed towards his face. She leaped at him, only to be deflected by Colorado launching her away from him with his feet, giving him enough time to stand back up shakily.

"Come on, Colorado- you scared?" Tex taunted.

He grit his teeth. "Shut up."

"Aw, does the little baby want his _mommy_?"

"Shut _UP_ , Texas!" he yelled.

"Hm, as appealing as that is, I don't think I wi-" she was forced to stop talking abruptly as his fist connected with her helmet, sending her flying back. She smashed into the wall, then dropped to the floor. Up in the booth above, York's eyes widened.  
"I… Did anyone even see him _move_?" he asked the room.

Back on the floor, Colorado shook out his fist as Texas pulled herself up. "I said, shut up," he quipped.

"You're in for it now, buddy," she growled. Texas ran at him, throwing a barrage of kicks and punches, most of which he was able to deflect- which only made her angrier. "If- you- can- fight- this- well- then- why- _don't- you_?" she grunted out, punching him with every word.

"Because REASONS!" he yelled in response, throwing her off of him. She spun around, kicking him directly in the chest, and sent him reeling backwards- only to for her to throw her legs around him and knock him down, sitting on his stomach as she punched him repeatedly in the face.

Colorado barely managed to lift up his arms in defence as he yelled out a string of profanities that made everyone in the box cringe. It was truly impressive.

Tex suddenly paused, looking up, and Colorado saw his chance. He rolled the two of them over, and reversed the punching/defending they were doing a moment ago- or he would have, if the Director hadn't called out angrily.

" _What in the name of-_ What are you two doing? Who sanctioned this match?!" he yelled at the Freelancers in the box. Colorado and Tex froze and scrambled apart from each other, frantically trying to stand up.

"I did, sir," Tex answered up. "Colorado and I got into an argument, so-"

"So it was Colorado's fault?" he called out, glaring at the blue-armored agent on the floor.

"She never said that!" Carolina spoke up. "He started the argument, and she challenged him. If you're going to blame anyone, blame-"

"I was not _aware_ I asked for your _opinion_ , Carolina," The Director stated coldly. She reeled back as if struck, and lowered her head.

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir." She apologized.

"Colorado. You will be put on _probation_ , and will _not_ be going on any missions in the near future," the Director declared. Colorado's head shot up, as if to argue, but then he stopped and lowered it again.

"Yes, sir."

" _Do_ _not do this again._ "

As they loaded up the Pelican, York turned to Colorado. "You gonna be okay off the mission?"

Colorado chuckled. "Hey, don't feel bad. I get to prep the other A.I.'s for implantation and make sure they're comfortable with people. _Yay me,_ " he commented sarcastically. "At the very least, this solves my problem with South- if I can't go, she gets to."

"Heh. Good luck with that," York snarked. "Delta's pretty difficult to work with sometimes, honestly- how's your bruises healing up?" he abruptly changed the subject at seeing Colorado rubbing his side in pain.

"Badly. I'm decently certain she broke my ribs," Colorado complained. "And now I get to go and hang out with a bunch of computer dicks for- wait, wait, no, let me rephrase that." At his backtracking, York burst into laughter.

"Okay, okay, dude. You've gotta stop before someone takes that out of context," he commented through his laughter. He leaned over against the wall, taking a second to regulate his breathing.

"Hey, make sure you let Delta into the system first, yeah?" Colorado warned. He glanced over York to see Carolina tapping her foot behind him, glaring daggers at the pair.

"Don't worry, I will." He turned around, seeing Carolina glaring. "Gotta go. Mission calls, man." York chuckled, hitting Colorado lightly on the shoulder before walking over to Carolina. "I'm here. Chill."

Colorado grinned, then turned around to get out of the hangar before the ship took off. He jogged out of the room, then began leisurely walking towards where the A.I. were. As he walked, Florida caught up to him.

"Hey, Colorado," the Agent said, jogging to catch up.

Colorado did a double take. "Wait, Florida? Aren't you supposed to be going on the mission?"

Florida snickered. "Nah, I'm not on the list for any missions this week. I _am_ scheduled to help you out with the A.I.s, though."

" _Joy,_ " Colorado deadpanned

"Look on the bright side," Florida reasoned. "We _could_ be getting shot at in space."

"I'll take A.I.s over space shooting any day," Colorado agreed with a short laugh. The two walked in a short, companionable silence to where they would be meeting the A.I.s. "Say, why are _we_ with the A.I.s anyway?"

Florida sighed, putting one hand on his hip. "You know that they aren't very used to human interaction yet- that's where we come in."

"Ah, yes, bring the guy with _bullets_ all over his armor and the most antisocial guy on the team to meet the minicomputers- nice reasoning."

"Ha ha, very funny. Come on, we'd better hurry if we don't want to be late." Florida sped up his walk slightly before continuing, "How are you adjusting?"

"Honestly?" Colorado sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "The Freelancers are frickin' _weird._ We've got a couple of homicidal maniacs, a mostly-mute guy who is out for blood constantly, a bunch of tiny computer people, a guy who is supposed to be the best lockpicker _who can't pick a fucking lock_ , and other weird shit. Remind me why I agreed to this?"

"Because, Colorado. You knew the Project needed your skills, remember?"

"Oh, _right,_ yeah, because the- and I repeat- _antisocial guy_ will be the _best_ choice to read how the aforementioned crazy motherfuckers interact with each other. _Suuuure._ " His voice dripped sarcasm as he looked at Florida like he was insane. "Sometimes I wonder what you guys were thinking, bringing me on."

Florida lightly bumped his shoulder against Colorado's. "Trust me, I don't think the Project would've let you go."

Colorado looked at him confusedly. "One question. _Why_ are you being so friendly to me? I thought you were my overseer, or whatever."

"I may be your _supervisor_ ," Florida corrected with a smirk, "but that doesn't mean I can't be your friend!"

" _Sure it doesn't_ ," he snarked back. "Come on. We're gonna be late."

 **A.N. And done! God, that took way longer than I anticipated. Sorry I took that week off! Semester exams are horrible and I hate them.**

 **Anyway, this chapter is** _ **finally done like oh my god why did that take so long why**_ **. Sorry again. I'm so tired, but I** _ **finally**_ **am able to get this out!**

 **For the record, I have** _ **plans**_ **for this fic. If it gets long enough and I pass the FS, then I'll jump back in time (show-wise) and write the BGC with some alterations. Somewhat looking forward to that, somewhat tired.**

 **So, a couple of people who read this asked my why I only update on the weekends. It's actually pretty simple: the only time I have during the week to write is** _ **on weekends.**_ **Yep, I currently only have Saturdays and Sundays to get these chapters written- with the occasional hour during school because I lowkey rebel (honestly though I am such a goody-goody it's not even funny.) Monday through Thursday every week I have practice for a musical I'm in, and Friday I have pep band every week. Around March, I fully expect the chapter rate to pick up- but for now, it'll fluctuate until I get done with the musical. That's my main priority, aside from school. Which sucks.**

 **Anyway, thanks for listening to my rambling, and continue to read this weird-ass fic if you want to. Review on if you think I should continue this past the Freelancer Saga and into the Blood Gulch Chronicles and beyond (because I have** _ **plans**_ **.)**

 **~PA**


	4. Chapter 4

**Cool. Thanks for the support. Review answers likely at the bottom.**

 **~PA**

"Hold on. Back the fuck up," Colorado exclaimed, waving his hand around in a "stop" motion. "You're telling me that Carolina dragged Washington into the ship _by his dick?"_ At York's affirmative nod, and Washington sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, Colorado burst into laughter. "Holy _fuck_ , that's _great!_ "  
"Not to mention, he was screaming like a little kid," North commented, walking up on the trio and sitting down. They were all in the cafeteria of the Mother of Invention, telling Colorado all that had happened on their last mission.

He recovered after a moment; his mind turned to the information York had told him earlier. "Man," he said seriously, leaning forward to put his chin on his hand. "It sucks that we lost CT. I mean, I'm sure she's fine… probably," he added under his breath.

"CT's tough. The only thing _I_ want to know is where the fuck she went." Carolina huffed, dropping her tray of food on the table as she joined the boys.

Colorado attempted to comfort her by putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. We'll figure it out, don't worry. Hell, you'll probably figure it out all on your own." Carolina shrugged, then turned back to her food before she angrily and viciously stabbed an orange slice.

Colorado raised an eyebrow, then turned back to the others at the table. "Ohhhhkay then. Anyway, North," he began. North glanced up at him with a nod to continue. "You will be happy to know that your AI is ready for implantation later. I'm gonna warn you now though- he's fucking _shy_."

North smiled. "I should have expected the Director to pair me up with the shy one."

Wash picked up his water bottle, then snorted into it before replying, "Sure, oh father-of-the-team."

Colorado tilted his head, then smirked at Washington. "So, lemme get this straight. North is the team's Daddy? You guys are fucked up."

At the table adjacent to theirs, South audibly did a spit - take into her drink before calling out. "HOLY SHIT NORTH, I WASN'T AWARE YOU HAVE A DADDY KINK."

"It _isn't like that!"_

" _SUUUUUUUUUUURE IT ISN'T."_

Colorado looked between the two siblings, then cleared his throat awkwardly. "I… think I'm gonna go train…. _Bye!"_ he yelled before taking off, sprinting out of the lunchroom.

Washington bolted after him. " _DON'T LEAVE ME WITH THEM- TAKE ME WITH YOU!"_

Later in the day, York and Washington were meeting up with an excited North in the locker room. North put his hands on his hips proudly as the other two stared.

Washington smacked his lips, unsure of what to say. He settled on a hum, then continued, "I expected it to be… bigger."

York turned from his staring to glance at Wash. "Why? You've seen mine. It's small, too."

Washington nodded a concession to that. "Yeah, but yours is really shiny," he argued, "so it looks more… substantial."

The golden Freelancer pulled a confused face at him. "How does that even make _sense?_ "

North sighed, breaking up the forming argument. "Hey, Wash? Quit staring. You're making it nervous."

"Yeah, it's just…" Washington paused to look at both York and North, before looking back at the topic of discussion. "They're so small!"

"Small? Yeah," York agreed. "But you wouldn't _believe_ what it can do," he boasted.

"Besides, you better get used to it. You're gonna have one of your own soon enough." As North spoke, South walked up beside York and let out a disgusted noise.

"Ugh, give me a break," she complained before walking off. As she left, Colorado entered the room and paused a moment.

"Hey, he giving you trouble?" Colorado asked. He chuckled, before bending down to look at North's ankled. "Hey, Theta, it's cool. You can come out. Nobody's gonna hurt you, okay?" he asked entreatingly, stretching out a hand. At Colorado's seemingly out-of-character actions towards the childlike A.I., North raised his eyebrow before shrugging it off.

"Yeah, it's okay. People just want to say hello to you, " North agreed.

"I don't know… There's so many of them," the dual-layered voice sounded out from behind his leg. "And they're so… _big._ "

Colorado chuckled. "I'm big, but you trust me, right?" he asked.

"You see! I'm not the only one who thinks size is important!" Washington exclaimed.

"Dude. Context," Colorado stated, glaring up at Wash.

York grinned. "Yeah, I think I'll just let that one go," he agreed.

"It's okay, Theta," North continued, "they're all friends of mine." He sighed. "For reasons beyond my comprehension." Colorado stepped back as Theta appeared over North's shoulder, standing between York and Wash.

"They're looking at me," Theta said nervously.

North grinned, turning to Theta. "That's 'cause they want to meet you. This is York, Col, and Wash."

"Don't call me that."

"Hey there, little…. computer… dude," Wash greeted hesitantly. He was obviously unsure what to say, as he stuttered a bit.

"Give it a rest, Wash," York said, stepping forward. "Theta, I have a friend just like you," York commented. "His name is Delta."

Behind both of them, Colorado put his hand to his helmet and shook it, as if in pain or to clear his head. Theta appeared on North's other shoulder, making Colorado wince slightly.

"Really?' the purple and pink A.I. asked hesitantly.

"Yeah!" York answered with conviction. "Here, you- you want to say hello to him?" he encouraged.

"Umm… _York_?" North asked. He tilted his helmet forward, trying to silently remind York of their orders not to let the A.I. socialize.

"It's _okay,_ man, it's only for a second." York mentally called Delta out of his storage space; the small green A.I. appeared a moment later.

"Hello, Theta," the newcomer said. If Colorado wasn't mistaken, he could almost hear a sad affection in Delta's voice. "I am Delta. It is nice to meet you."

"H-hello…"

"See, everybody here is nice," Colorado said, stepping forward with a grimace.

"Colorado, you okay?" Wash whispered.

"I'm fine. Fuck off."

"There are children present-"

"SHHH."

The pair tuned back into the conversation, hearing Delta make a sarcastic remark that made Colorado chuckle. "Also, _nice_ is a rather subjective term for-"

" _Delta…"_

"Oh yes. Everyone here is…" Delta turned around for a brief moment, looking directly at Colorado.

A sharp pain made itself known in Colorado's head.

"... _nice,"_ Delta continued, turning back around. "Within standard acceptable deviations-"

"Delta!"

Deciding to brush past the apparently-annoyed fragment, North cut in. "That's my sister over there, South. We're twins," he explained to Theta.

"I have a sister!" Theta exclaimed, apparently happy at the new connection between him and his Agent.

"You… you _do?_ " Wash asked, shocked.

"We have many siblings," Theta explained.

"What do you mean by siblings-"

" _Wash shut up or I swear I will castrate you-"_

Colorado's idle, pained threat directed the attention to him for a moment before the Director spoke up, having entered the observation deck with no-one noticing. "Hello, everyone, I hope you're ready to begin our test," he greeted. The gathered Freelancers hastily got into an attentive line, hands straight at their sides while Delta continued to hover over York's shoulder. "Delta. I believe you know the protocol about communicating directly with other A.I. units," the Director reprimanded.

"I apologize, sir, I will log off," Delta apologized politely.

"Don't. I want you to help administer the test." He switched his attention from Delta to York and North, then continued, "Gentlemen, if you will take the floor."

South walked off to lean against the wall as North turned to Theta. "Okay, Theta, just like we practiced. You ready?"

"A-are they all going to watch?" Theta asked, frightened.

Colorado slowed to stand next to North for a brief moment. "Of course we are, but it'll be okay. We just want to see if you're as good as North and I said you are," he reassured.

"Really? Well… I guess that's okay. I mean, after all, you are the-"

"North!" the Director interrupted. " _Take the floor."_

"Yes, sir. Come on, Theta, we'll continue this discussion another time, all right?"

"O-okay."

Colorado walked over to stand beside the Director, leaning on the shelf beside the window with one hand as he grabbed a datapad. "Sir, permission to speak freely?"  
"Permission granted, Agent Colorado. What is it?"

Colorado sighed, spinning around to lean his back against the shelf as he removed his helmet. He started playing with the datapad, looking through statistics of York's previous use of his equipment. "Sir… I don't feel right about this. Something with the A.I.s… being around them makes me nervous."

"And what about it? Is this nervousness affecting the others who spend time with the units?"

"Not that I know of, sir, and that's what worries me. What if, the more time they spend with the A.I.s, the more this happens to them? York's talked to me about Delta being overly cautious- running scenarios when there's no danger present, being worried about… _something-_ "

"Agent Colorado. Are you worrying about the mental statement of an A.I.? Because I can assure you, it takes a lot more than just worry to break an A.I.'s mind-"

"Yeah, and that's not as cryptic as ever," Colorado huffed. He turned back to look out the window as he watched North get set up with Theta. "I just… nevermind."

"Good."

Colorado zoned out, not quite paying full attention to what was going on; instead, he ran through some scenarios in his head and thought about the best way to deal with them. He idly noticed the Director chewing Delta out, then the Counselor stepping in and talking to the pair.

As soon as the Director said to begin the test, the group in the observation box turned around to look out the window. They could see North getting into position with his sniper rifle as Theta appeared over his shoulder. Colorado tensed slightly as machine gun turrets popped up on the spinning rings, then relaxed when North threw up his bubble shield with no complications.

"As you may recall," the Counselor began, "Agent North used his equipment in the field on a previous mission."

Colorado stepped up, looking around to his company before reading off his datapad. "He was able to successfully maintain the shield for about 3.4 seconds to block a projectile attack, somehow managing not to _kill himself_ in the process."

Delta appeared closer to Colorado's shoulder and continued on with Colorado's explanation. "The maneuver only had a .1% chance of success. Had he performed it 999 more times, I'm rather certain he would have been _obliterated_ on each one."

York turned to Delta and commented, "Hey, I'd rather be lucky than _good_ any day."

"You usually are," Washington teased.

" _Luck_ will only take one so far," The Director interjected. "I am in the business of getting _results._ Let's see what _Theta_ can do." He turned to Colorado and Delta before ordering, "Delta, Colorado, reduce shield strength to 20 percent."

"Modifying."

The bubble shield started to falter before North called out, "Power dropping! Theta, use remaining power to compensate for critical tiles!"

"On it!" the small, brightly colored A.I. answered. Colorado looked on with a strange sense of pride as the tiles switched from the large bubble to only certain tiles that blocked gunfire being held up.

The Director glanced at Colorado and Delta and ordered, "Add variables."

"Yes sir."

"Acknowledged."

They worked together seamlessly to control the arcs spinning around North and Theta, making the turrets move around and change angles. Thankfully, Theta managed easily, moving around the important shielding tiles to block all incoming bullets without fail.

"Great job, Theta/Colorado!" Two different conversations were happening at the same time, but with similar words. What surprised York, who was a few steps away from where Colorado was working hard on the keys, was the answer he gave, which had a distinct echo to it from the floor.

"Stop talking to me, you'll mess me up!"

York shrugged it off as a very strange coincidence and turned back to the fight. He knew he'd talk about it later with Delta, but for the moment there wasn't anything he could do without breaking protocol, as the Director was there.

The Director had a slight look of annoyance about his face, and you could tell he was upset about _something_ as he snapped out, "Reset." The spinning rings on the training room floor stopped and sunk back into the ground, courtesy of Delta, while Colorado reset the shield's power levels back to 100%. The Director turned on the microphone, saying, "Agent North, your objective now is to eliminate all turrets. Begin."

Washington tilted his head curiously as he stated, "I thought the shield works both ways- there's no way for him to attack."

"Theta, analyze turret rate of fire, and adjust the shield to match," North commanded.

"Okay!" Theta replied, pausing for a moment before looking back at North. "Done." North slipped into a shooting pose, bringing his rifle up to his shoulder and lining up his shot.

"Firing, on my mark."

"Ready!"

"Mark!"

Time seemed to slow down for the briefest of moments. Colorado could clearly see the bullet's firing path and watched the shield open and close just enough for the bullet to slip through and hit the turret. He let out a slow whistle as the pair effortlessly repeated this, easily "killing" all the turrets on the field. Beside him, Delta returned to hovering over York's shoulder, announcing, "All targets eliminated."

"Test complete. Excellent work," the Director complimented.

Wash was in a state of almost shock. "Wow," he yelled. "Wow! That was incredible!" he laughed out. York was in a similar state of giddiness as he replied.

"Yeah, what'd I tell you?!"

Wash leaned around South to ask, "A-and we're sure they don't get _any_ bigger?" innocently. Colorado smothered a chuckle at the awkward phrasing of the question.

"Heh, dude, you are _killing_ me with that!" York answered with a laugh as they walked out of the observation box, protocol abandoned now the Director had left.

Colorado grinned behind his helmet, calling out to them and pausing their exit. "Hey, guys, when's the next class we report to?"

Wash glanced at his HUD, the schedule popping up in the corner. "Uh, not for a few hours. Starts at five, and it's, what, noon now?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there you go. Why?"

Colorado smirked as he took off his helmet. "Up for a little competition, North?" he asked, looking at the dark purple-armored Freelancer as he entered the box.

North detatched his helmet before mirroring Colorado's smirk. "You up for me kicking your ass?"

Wash bounced up and down excitedly, yelling out, "I gotta tell the others if you guys are having a shooting competition!"

"Wait for me!" York yelled, chasing after him.

"You really think you can stand up to me with Theta?" North asked as the pair ran out. Colorado shrugged, a friendly smile still on his face.

"Eh. A.I.'s are great- you included, Theta, I know you're listening- but sometimes it's better to just have skill."

"If you want, I could pull The-"

" _No._ " Colorado's sudden switch from friendly teasing to barely-hidden anger (and was that a bit of panic on his face, North wondered?) surprised the life out of North. He raised his eyebrows, but didn't show more than that.

"All right- just remember, I offered. When do you want to start?" North asked, leaning against the wall. "Oh, you did pretty good with Delta today. Was he in your suit?"

Colorado pulled a confused face. "No…. why would he have been?"

North shrugged. "No reason. Just curious, considering the only time I've seen Delta work that well with someone is when he was working inside York's head in that last training session they were in."

"Oh. Well… no. Anyway, we should probably give the masses a bit- you know, let FILISS set up for a sharpshooting competition-"

 _Already done, Agent Colorado,_ the feminine voice called out. Colorado glanced down to see a setup of varying targets popping up around the arena floor. _I should probably mention that you two have a class in 10 minutes- not nearly long enough for a sharpshooting competition_.

"Damn it! Well, okay. Hey FILLIS, save this setup for us, yeah?" Colorado called out as he rushed out of the room. "Come on, the classroom is by the meeting rooms! Let's go, asshat!"

"I'm comin-WHOOAAA!" North cried out as he was grabbed by the nape of his armor along his neck by Colorado and forcefully dragged out of the room.

"Let's GOOO~OOOO!"

Colorado glanced around the large lecture hall-esque room to see his fellow Freelancers looking as bored out of their minds as he was. He slightly tuned back into what the Counselor was droning on about this time.

"And as the Director accurately predicted in his thesis on the subject, we see that cognitive impression modeling can be segregated from the host. Naturally, this remains a rather… deconstructive process." The Counselor paused for a moment to look around the room at the somewhat-bored faces, then continued, "But most of all, the biggest concern of any full A.I. entity is the prospect of rampancy…"

Colorado zoned out to irritatedly rub the bridge of his nose. He'd had a persistent headache all throughout this class, and the headache wasn't helping him when he was interested in this subject. After all, A.I.s rather intrigued him- for reasons he really couldn't figure out.

He blinked as the Director took over from the Counselor, explaining, "Of course, our A.I. units are what we call fragments, so there's very little chance that a personality subroutine can run off unchecked."

"Are there any questions?" the Counselor inquired in his usual soft-spoken manner. Colorado idly wondered if that was his normal voice or if he was just playing up the therapist-soft-spoken bullshit.

"Yeah, I've got a question," South called out. Colorado flinched at her loud, angry words. "Why do we need to learn all this stuff?"

Carolina rolled her eyes and looked at South, obviously annoyed. "A.I. theory is like vehicle maintenance, South. If we're going to use this equipment- _any_ equipment-, we need to know how to care for it."

South crossed her arms and leaned back. "Oh, yeah, like a coffeemaker, or a vacuum cleaner."

" _Ex-fuckin-scuse me?"_ Colorado yelled out. He slammed his hands on the desk and stood up, anger written all over his face. "Did you just call the A.I.'s _fucking appliances_?! What- no! I can't- fucking hell," he griped, sitting back down after his momentary outburst of anger. He pointedly did not make eye contact with _anyone_ , except for the holographic A.I.s.

Theta glanced back at Delta, who said, "That was.. rather rude, Agent South."

"Oh, cry me a river, light bulb."

Inexplicably, Colorado felt a sudden surge of protectiveness for the fragments. " _LIGHT BULB?!_ You fucking- I'LL SHOW YOU A-" Colorado cried out. He stood up, visibly sighing before he ran a hand through his hair. "I can't deal with this." He stomped out of the room, pausing at the Director's call.

"Agent Colorado, where do you think you are going? Class has not been dismissed yet!" he drawled angrily.

"Anywhere except with little miss Ignorant-Bitch-of-the-Year," Colorado said dismissively. He stomped out, angrily muttering under his breath as he maglocked his helmet to his hip. His obviously stormy expression caused no few passerby to veer to the other side of the walkway to avoid him. He made it to the dorms before roaring out in anger and punching the wall, leaving a visible dent.

"Yeesh. And I thought I had anger issues," Tex called out humorously, rounding the corner. Colorado visibly drained upon seeing her as he slumped against the wall, sliding down it with a screech of metal-on-metal.

"Texas…" He sighed, tilting his head back as he idly played with his helmet. "Why can't I keep my cool around them?"

Tex sighed, plopping down on the floor next to him. "I don't know. I really don't- but why the hell didn't you call for me?"

Colorado shrugged. "I may or may not have forgotten about our arrangement."

"Which one, the one to talk about your nightmares and headaches, or the one to talk about your problems with the Fragments?"

"Both."

"Well, that just proves my theory that you are a total dumbass."

"Eh, probably."

Texas leaned her head back slightly, mirroring him as they looked at the ceiling. "You really need to talk to me about these things, Colorado." He wondered why she cared.

"Look, I know. You're the resident expert of A.I. bullshit- which reminds me," he paused, turning his head to look at her. "Did I tell you about my new tech upgrade?" When Texas looked at him curiously, he continued, "Guess not. Anyway, the Director has seen it fit- and yes, I'm quoting more or less- that I can have a piece of specialized equipment. Apparently, I'm being assigned as a techie."

"Aren't you already a techie, Mr. Former-Scientist?"

"Touche. Either way, the equipment basically lets me work with York better- I hack the computers and shit, while he gets into locks and shit."

Texas pulled herself up off the ground, then extended a hand out to him. "Well, at least you two will have something to bitch about now."

Colorado grinned as he stood up. "Yeah, I guess. Anyway, it's supposed to be implemented into my armor in about an hour." His companion smirked at him.

"You want to go work off your anger?"

" _Hell_ yeah. Training room?" He asked. Colorado raised an eyebrow as Texas thumbed behind her to her room.

"Sure. Race ya?" Texas put her hands on her hips, then jumped as, without any warning as to what he was planning, Colorado took off running.

"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!"

 **A.N. GOD THAT TOOK WAY TOO LONG I AM SO SORRY.**

 **Also, Tex is a bitch to write when I'm writing soft fluffy-ish moments between her and Church. I'll work on that. Hopefully later on, she'll be a bit less OOC.**

 **Anyway, reviews:**

 **Guest: Is Tex going to hate on Colorado? Or the other way around? Great story, by the way, keep making more!** Nah, I'm working towards a Tex/Colorado ship thing. God I love Chex. They are going to have a bit of a rivalry later on, maybe, but yeah.

 **Guest: Sound great.** Thanks! :D

 **Guest: you and this story have a lot of promise and potential don't let it go to waste. I'm looking forward to the next chapter.** Aw, thank you! Here you go! :)


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the absence. This chapter is a bitch to write. Exams are terrible.

-PA

Colorado walked into the mess hall to a conversation.

"Hey, Colorado! Come here, we could use your opinion on this," North called.

"Uhh… sure?" He sat down at the table, pulling off his helmet to bite down on an apple.

"So, I need to ask you guys about something," York started, crossing his arms as Delta and Theta shut off.

"Uh, okay, shoot," North said.

"Yeah, go ahead," Colorado joined in.

"I… need to ask you about the Alpha."

Colorado twitched. He thought he could… remember… something. "Where…. Did you hear that."

"Same place North heard it. Up here." York continued.

Colorado put a hand to his head, a sudden headache beginning. He groaned when he could faintly hear Theta and Delta conversing, having not totally shut off. "Ughh…" Meanwhile, York and North put their conversation on hold to question Wash's eating habits.

"It's not an Alpha, Wash…"

"-It's THE Alpha," Colorado butted in.

"Yeah… Theta thinks about him a lot- more than thinks, really, he's obsessed almost."

"Is it like that with Delta, too?" Colorado asked.  
"Yeah. Hey, you know how all the units call each other "brother"?'

"Yeah…?" North trailed off.

"They call this one "father"... don't they?" Colorado questioned, holding his head.

"Yeah. Hey, you okay?"

"Headache."

"Oh. Anyway, "father" isn't quite right… maybe-"

"Creator."

"Yeah!"

Wash cut in, gesturing with a banana, "I thought the Director would be their creator."

 _Stab. Pain. Emotional pain, not physical pain._

"Ahh… Ow."

"Which begs the question.." York said as Colorado tuned back in, "where's the original?"

 _You failed. She died. You failed._

Colorado twitched again, standing up shakily. "I… I need to-"

"Are… you sure you're okay?"

"I… I don't.. I-I.."

He collapsed to faint yelling, and a name repeated over and over in his ears.

EPSILON.

* * *

He sat up abruptly, not sure why his head was ringing. He tried to remember, but all he could think of was the word… no, not word, name… Epsilon, repeating over and over with a location. He didn't stop to think why his thought process was so… mechanical-seeming now. He swung up off the medbay bunk, standing up with only a slight trembling of limbs.

"Good, you're awake," Carolina said, startling him. "I wanted to see if you were okay before the mission. I don't want anyone dying on me."

"Got it," he replied jokingly, saluting her. "Nothing short of a freak tank accident is gonna kill me!"

She blinked in confusion at him before shrugging it off and turning to exit the room. "Be careful out there."

"I would, but I'm not going. Apparently passing out is cause to not get to go on a mission, but losing half your eyesight isn't," Colorado grumbled. She stiffened before turning to him coldly.

"Yeah. Sure. Have fun."

"Be careful out there, sis."

She paused in the doorway, before looking at him over her shoulder.

"I'm not your sis."

She left the room, leaving him staring at her with the oddest of expressions on his face. He shrugged before turning and grabbing his datapad, only now noticing he was out of armor in sweats and a long-sleeve shirt. He sat down on the bunk, flipping through the files he was allowed in, searching for the name plaguing him. Colorado looked up his personal file, then from there, following a hunch, looked up the newest fragment.

Epsilon.

He absently rubbed his head, then tried to locate the fragment by hacking past the encrypted firewalls, but couldn't get far. He gave up when he almost triggered an alarm, backing out of the program before locking the tablet. He stood up and left the room, searching out North, and more specifically, Theta. He found him conversing with York.

"Don't you think it's weird how he just passed out after we were talking- oh, hey, Colorado! What's up?" York asked, trying (and failing) to look casual. Colorado grinned at him before shrugging.

"Not much, but I just found out I'm not allowed on this new mission. Which sucks, but hey. What can you do." He shrugged again, before looking at the two of them. "Hey, can I ask both of your A.I. something? It's… pretty important."

They looked at each other hesitantly. "Well," North began, "you know the rules, Colorado…. But you are the A.I. tech…"

"I authorize this interaction, upon special grounds. Theta, Delta, can you activate for me?"

The two A.I. fragments appeared over their hosts' shoulders, looking at him with an uncertain air. "How can we help you, A- uh, Agent Colorado?" Theta stuttered, seeming as if he slipped up on something.

"Yeah," Colorado noted, looking in his tablet. "Can you guys answer a question for me?"

"We will attempt to the best of our ability, Agent Colorado," Delta answered formally.

"Do you know where the fragment Epsilon is?"

Delta and Theta both twitched. They started to answer, but a voice over the intercom cut them off. _Agents North Dakota and New York, please report to the debriefing room._

"Ah, well," North said. He turned to Colorado, continuing, "Good luck on your… search, I guess. Why is this Epsilon A.I. so important?"

"I… I'm not sure. I just know he is."

"All right, well, I'm sure you'll find him. See you after the mission, okay?" York said, clapping Colorado on the shoulder as he turned to leave. "Hurry up, North, we'll be late."

"Yeah, I'm coming."

Colorado waved as they left, then logged into his datapad to update the personnel list. He personally disapproved with the Director's decision to continue to pit Tex and Carolina against each other, but he wasn't going to argue. After all, the Director is basically God, he thought sarcastically. He rolled his eyes, adjusting the leaderboard to account for the newest variables and their latest training scores. Carolina barely lagged after Texas. He bit his lip in annoyance, not sure why the Director continued to cause conflict amongst a supposed team.

Fuck it. He was going to try to keep this team together no matter what the Director said. He threw in a last-minute message, seemingly from the medical team, that he was cleared for the mission, then added his profile onto the personnel list. He jogged to the training room where his armor was, putting it on before running to the debriefing room in time to catch the end part of the debriefing. He noticed Carolina lagging, but did nothing but give her a stare before leaving.

* * *

"See anything?"

"Mmm…. nope. Third arriving plane today… oh shit."

"What is it, Colorado?"  
"Damn it.. CT is confirmed to be working with the rebels, sir."

"Well. Isn't that unfortunate. Wyoming, you see it too?"

"Yes."

"We should call this in-"

"No, Colorado. We're fine. They already know."

"What the fuck- they already _know_ CT was a traitor? What _the shit_?!"

"Calm down- you're going to give away our position."

"Alrighty, team! Let's get in there! Just make sure nobody dies, okay!"

"Okay. See you guys on the other side."

* * *

 **Yay, dialogue! Anyway, try and figure out the order. It should be pretty easy.**

 **It's almost midnight. I'm sorry it's so short and so delayed.**

 **See you guys next time!**

 **-PA**


	6. Chapter 6

TBAF CHAPTER 6

FWOOM! The Pelican carrying the other Agents of Project Freelancer dropped from the sky, firing its jets at the last possible second. They piled out of the plane, while meanwhile on the other side of the base, the forward infiltration stealth team slipped into the base undetected. They climbed up into their hiding spots, completely hidden from below… unless you knew where to look.

Colorado looked at Florida, talking softly over the comms, knowing that the machinery would cover the sounds. "You ready?"

"My dear Colorado, I was born ready! Let's- OW!" Static laced over the comms as Florida fell backwards, knocked off his perch by a fucking hatchet slamming him off balance by embedding into his armor.

"Shit!" Colorado cussed out, readying his rifle. He jumped out of his hidden spot, taking fire but hesitating when he saw CT was there too, not willing to shoot at a former teammate.

"C-Colorado!" Connecticut yelled out, putting out her hands in a peace attempt between the Spinning Guns of Death Twins and Colorado. "Please, listen to me!"

Suspiciously, he lowered his rifle. "Why should I listen to you? You betrayed the Project."

"I… I did it for everyone's good! We aren't the good guys here- please, come with me! I'll show you," she said, pleadingly.

He hesitated. "Okay," he said after a moment. He shouldered his rifle and dropped down, holding up his hands until the Spinny Death Twins lowered their machine guns. He walked up to CT slowly…

"You're a fucking idiot."

"E...excuse me?!" CT asked indignantly. "I have the evidence right here!"

"Okay, I'll give you that it maybe makes a tiny bit of sense, but for the most part it's completely absurd! I'm the Alpha A.I.? I'm a fucking human being, not a calculator!"

She sighed and handed him… an A.I. containment unit? The fuck? "What the fuck is… you stole a fragment?! Jesus, do you know how delicate these fuckers are?!" He chewed her out, sounding much like the angry dad he'd somehow come to be for the fragments.

"Just shut up," the rebellion leader sighed. "That, we think, is the memory fragment. Connie managed to smuggle it out, which is why you guys are after her."

"That… doesn't…" He put a hand to his head. For some reason, being around the memory fragment was giving him a headache. "That's not what we were told."

"Well, your Director was a liar and probably did quite a few illegal things to you. I'm not really surprised," the Leader deadpanned. "Just trust us, and put your hand on the containment unit, okay?"

Colorado groaned. "UGHHH, fine." He ungloved his hand and put it on the machine, only to crumple to the ground, motionless.

"Ow… what hit me?" he said, looking around. All he could see was white… and a slight tinge of blue, off in the distance? His vision cleared up, and he saw a blue-armored figure, much like himself, coming toward him. He reached for his rifle, only for it to not be there.

"Hey, who are you?" A voice, exactly like his, asked. Colorado flinched in surprise.

"I'm… I'm Agent Colorado. Who are you, and why do you sound exactly like me?!" he inquired, his voice raising slightly.

"Calm down. I'm Epsilon, and I'm gonna assume you're the Alpha, cause you're the only one who could actually get in here with another fragment in here," Epsilon reasoned. "I'm… confused, how did you get in here?"

"That… I'm not the Alpha! I'm a fucking human! Jeez, how many times do I have to say it?!" Colorado yelled. Epsilon jumped back slightly.

"Easy, dude. You need to calm down. Here… Let me show you."

"Show… show me what?" Colorado asked, slightly curious now. Could this fragment hold the reason why he couldn't remember anything before the Project?

"Your memories."

Pain. All he could think of was her- Alison, the Director's deceased wife, and the pain she caused.

Happiness, contentment. He was finally okay, he had his Beta, and they worked together flawlessly.

Abandonment. They took her away, to see if they couldn't make more.. Pieces, more fragments with him. He knew that was what they were trying to do. After all, one A.I. just isn't as good as a bunch, yeah?

Pain. Constant, always there, pain. He was alone constantly- unable to talk to anyone but the Director and the Counselor. He failed. Beta… was killed on a mission.

Confusion. He wondered, why was he here? Where was here?

He had a purpose again. He didn't remember anything, what his purpose was before, but now, he was fighting to help others. At least, that's what he was told.

He stood up slowly, looking around in a new manner. "You…" Connecticut helped him up as he staggered to his feet. "I… I understand now."

"You do? What do you understand.. Alpha?" She asked, somewhat curious and someone suspicious.

He sighed. "The Director…. I don't want to talk about it.. I have to go- Shit!" The room went dark before lighting up with emergency lights. The other two in the room cussed before flurrying around hurriedly.

"I have all the information we need; I have my armor. We can take this to the right people, and they'll-"

"They'll what, Connie?"

"I don't know, make a deal with us. Keep us out of prison for what we did to him!" She gestured vaguely in Colorado's… Alpha's direction. "Come on, we don't have much time."

"Actually, you don't have any time," a new voice resounded. The trio whipped around to see Carolina and Tex standing there, guns at the ready. Colorado gasped at seeing Tex, stumbling back and mumbling under his breath.

"Tex!"


End file.
